In our office, in our gardens, and in our homes — real-life adventures from the Berkshires and beyond.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Bloom Day: June 15, 2012

Bloom day is here again, and oh, how lovely the blossoms are in late spring (almost summer) in the Northeast. Bright colors and lovely smells of a variety of gorgeous flowers are attracting buzzing bees, fluttering butterflies, busy hummingbirds, and naturists from all over. I invite you to take a look at what is blooming in our yards right now.

We also have MaryAnn, our Norway contributor, reporting from across the Atlantic and Rebecca Montera, our Paraguay contributor, reporting from the Southern Hemisphere — so fun to see what is blooming elsewhere!

Sarah Armour, North Adams, Massachusetts:

Roses from my backyard

MaryAnn Nøbben, Skammestein, Norway:

Here in the foothills of the Jotunheim Mountains, it’s still on the cool side, but at least the snow and hail has turned to rain, and the vegetation is loving it — the weeds as much as the flowers. It's lovely to see such color on the landscape now, and it lifts the spirits even in the rain!

Iceland poppies and forget-me-nots

Cortusa matthioli — Alpine bells

Mystery flower — something slow and lowlylonging for a higher and faster lifestyle!

Globeflower and dogtooth violets

Debbie Surdam, Hoosick, New York:

Lupines

Peony

Rhododendron

Iris

My backyard water feature withlots of green — mostly hostas

Lisa Hiley, Williamstown, Massachusetts:

Arugula going to seed

Columbine, evening primrose, and roses

Cosmos

Evening primrose and roses

Petunia, geranium, and cool curly-que grass

Rose campion in front of sedum and lilac

Rebecca Montero, Carapeguá, Paraguay:

We just had a big cold snap down here (it is winter in Paraguay, of course), but a few things seemed to keep trudging along.

Banana close-up.

Full banana.

Banana: We have lots of different banana trees growing at our
house. It seems to take a long time to flower and mature. I have
included two photos to show how the fruit develops. There is a large
purple flower (although not sure this part is technically a flower, or
maybe just looks like one) that sprouts and then as each petal of the
flower drops off, it reveals another set of whitish/greenish flowers
that stem from the base of the petal. These little flowers then grow
into the bananas. Each petal creates a different bunch of bananas.
This process continues for sometimes months. As each bunch develops,
the central stem continues to grow, pushing the big purple flower
forward to make more bananas.

Kuruguá (Sicana odorífera), aka Musk Cucumber or Cassabanana.Thisis a vine fruit that grows like a Loofa, but ripens up with a fruit that looks like a leathery eggplant on the outside and a sort of cantaloupe on the inside. The odor is a little bit strange, but the flesh of the fruit is delicious!

Sara Bonthuis, Bennington, Vermont:

This photo was taken along the George Aiken Wildflower Trail at the Bennington Museum.